Sand-reel-operating mechanism



Dec. '4, 19 23. 1,476,648

R. W. SAGE ET AL SAND REEL OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Oct. 11, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet l gwoankom, fi'cfia/rd IK Sage, k I 1 /4 rr/Z azgk n61;

MAIN

Dec. 4,1923. 1,476,648

R. W. SAGE ET AL SAND REEL OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Oct. 11 1923 4 Sheets-$119902 S Q & anoz mu? Dec. 4, 1923. 1,476,648

R. w. SAGE ET AL SAND REEL OPERATINQ MECHANISM 511% Oct. 11. 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 I ll 26 -J 2 61 4 gnwnfow 3 fi'rfiav-ei Sago 3% Wham Dec. 4, 1923. 1,476,648

R. W. SAGE ET AL SAND REEL OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Oct. 11, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 gmmnl ow 7512714 rd 71. 54 90 jy r yizlflazz knzw;

Patented Dec. 4, 1923.. r I

ane A earner RICHARD W. SAGE AND HARRY R. B OUGHNER, OF AUGUSTA, KANSAS.

SAND-REEL-OPERATIIQG MECHANISM.

Application filed October 11, 1923. Serial No. 667,931.

To all 'u'lz-om- 2'!- may concern:

Be 1t known that we, RICHARD W. SAGE and HARRY R. BOUGHNER, citizens of the I United States of America; residing at Augusta, county of Butler, and State of Kansas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Sand-Reel-Operating Mechanism, of which the followlng is a specification. 4

This application is a continuation in art of application Serial No. 485,438, filed uly' 18. 1921, for drilling rig sand reel,

cessful sand reel must of necessity-be so constructed that it can be driven from a working part of the standard rig. The only available part of the standard rig from which motion can be imparted to the sand reel mechanism is the band wheel or its shaft. This has been generally recognized heretofore and attempts have been made with more or less success to so operate the sand reel but all such arrangements have had certain inherent disadvantages recognized in the industry. For example, where the sand reel was driven by frictional contact with the periphery of the band wheelbetween the fllghts of the belt, the face of:

the band wheel was soon rendered unfit for further service because of excessive wear on the friction generating periphery, so frequently a new band-wheel had to be substituted because a continued use of the worn band wheel, not only caused the band wheel to be out of round but it would also wear and tear the belt. Another disadvantage encountered was that the pressure of the reel against the band wheel caused excessive wear of the band Wheel bearings so that the band wheel soon got out of alignment requiring frequent rebabbitting. Since the bull wheel is driven by the band wheel it will be apparent that when the band wheel I got out of alignment the wear on'the band wheel tug became excessive.

Another disadvantage of the above referred to frictional drive is that the loose bearings often caused loss of frictional contact between the band wheeland the sand reel when the bailer was being elevated. In

such an event it was necessary to lower the bailer to the bottom of the well jand again begin the elevating operation with no assurance that the next operation would be successful. This causes considerable loss of time, thereby increasing the operating. cost 'of drilling the well.

In the prior constructions where the knuckle block tail post and'swing lever were used the bearings soon became worn, causing loss of frictional contact with the reel so that it becamedangerous to run in at high speeds,.and the band wheel face and the face of the friction drum of the sand 'reel frequently became so hot that the effective frictional contact between the two was destroyed necessitating frequent shut downs. Another objection has been that when the friction drum became hot and then -suddenly contracted, it would burst endangering the lives of the crew.

The above disadvantages have long been known, but in so far as we are aware, prior to our invention, no adequate means has been provlded to overcome them. Our 1n ventlon contemplates the provision of means whereby the sand reel may be oper-" ated bye direct drive from the band wheel shaft andthe mechanism 'may be so constructed that the sand spool may be positioned in front of the rigon the .walk side with the reel'in alignmentfwith the sand sheave placed at the top of the derrick, so that there will be a straight pull exerted on the sand'line permitting; the line to properly spool upon the reel without liability of the line piling up upon one end and falling off of the reel and chafing on the flange with attendant disadvantages which would happen where thereel was offset with respect to the center of the sand sheave.

' The desirability of providing a direct pull on the sand line has always been appreciated, but except for the examples above given, it has generally been considered impossible to so conduct the drive mechanism for the sand reel on account of thepeculiar construction of the rig.

for the following reasons.

bailer becomes caught in the hole, or it may .often results in a plugged hole.

The rig consists essentially of a main center sill, transverse mud sills, subsill on the mud sills parallel with the diagonal main line on the main sill, jack posts, one on the main sill and one on subsill, sampson post on main sill, beam on sampson post derrick, band wheel on the jack posts, bull wheel and appurtenances as is Well understood.

The problem then is to drive the sand reel by a direct drive from the band wheel shaft so that there will be a direct pull from the sandsheave and to so locate the spool and its drive mechanism as to not interfere with the operating mechanism of the rig. With such a mechanismnmans shouldbe provided whereby a sensitive slip clutch may be included between the shaft and the spool Sometimes the be covered up with cavings, so if no means were provided to allow some part of the mechanism to slip the cable would part necessitating a difficult fishing job which reason for the slip clutch is that the drillers art of feeling for the bottom of the hole can be sensitively practiced due to the facility and ease of the pick up. That is the case of manipulating the bailerat the bottom of the hole.

. scription in connection with the accompanying drawings in which igure 1 is a plan view of a standard rig to which our invention is applied.

Figure 2- is a diagram of the standard rig. Figure 3 is a perspective view of the sand reel operating mechanism.

Figure 4 1s a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of Figure 7.

Figure 6 is a sectional view on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4, and

ll igurefi is a top plan view of the sand ree The standard rig as shown consists of the derrick and the main foundation and of course, per se forms no part of our in vention.

The main sill A of the main foundation is connected to the derrick B in the usual way. The jack posts C and D support the band wheel shaft Eof the band wheel F by means of which the moving parts of the rig are driven, the band wheel receiving its mo tion from the usual belt driven by themgine. The band wheel shaft is at right angles to the main line G and the subline H, these lines being diagonal to the longitudinal center of the main sill A so as to allow Another for the front jack post D and to permit the longitudinal center of the walking beam I to align with the main line, G, whereby the walking beam may operate without striking thefront jack post D. J is the sand linesheave.

The distance from the outside of the front jack post D to the band wheel of a standard drill rig is approximately thirty inches. The jack post box is fourteen inches wide, the set collar is two. and one half inches and the band wheel flange projects one inch beyond the face of the band wheel, so there are only thirteen and one half inches on the front end of the band wheel shaft (that is, between the band wheel and the jack post D) within which to construct a clutch drive by means of. which the power may be takenoff the band wheel shaft to operate the sand reel but by embodying our invention, the drive may be effected. This can be accomplished in'the following manner. At the upper ends of the jack posts C and D are bearings 3 and 4, in which is mounted the ban wheel shaft E driven by theengine through the band wheel F; A clutch 7 is keyed to the shaft E and is bolted rigid with the wheel F through the medium of the bolts 8 which pass through the web of the drum through the wheel F and through av collar 9, also keyed to the shaft, aswill be clearly seen by reference to Fig. 6. i A sliding clutch collar 10 is mounted on the shaft E and it is provided with grooves 11 and 12. In the groove 11 are the arms of a yoke 13 on the end of a lever 14, pivoted to the bracket 15 rigid with the sprocket 16, loosely mounted on shaft E, the diameter of the sprocket being greater than that of the drum 7. The groove 12 receives the pins 17 and 18 of a clutch shifter yoke 19 which is operated by the rod 20 mounted in the bracket 21 carried by the standard 2 (see Fig. Therefore, when the rod is turned, the collar 10 will be shifted to rock the lever 14.

0n the upper end of the lever 14 is a link 22 which causes a clutch hand 23 mounted about the drum 7 to expand and contract so as to engage and disengage the periphery of the clutch drum. The link 16 extends through the sprocket, as seen in Fig. 6. {EWhen the band .23 binds on the periphery of the clutch drum, it will rotate with the clutch drum. Therefore, the sprocket 16 will be rotated but when the band is released from the clutch drum, the wheel 6, shaft 5 and clutch drum may rotate without rotating the sprocket.

The sprocket 16 is preferably made in halves and the two halves are connected at 24 (see Fig. 4) so that the sprocket can'be removed from the shaft for the purpose of inspection and repairs without taking 0d the shaft 5.

The sprocket 16 drives a sprocket 25 through the medium of a chain 26. The sprocket 25 is rigid with the collar or hub 27 of a disk 28, loosely mounted on a shaft 29, supported in bearings 30 and31 in the pillow blocks 32 and 33, the pillow blocks being in turn supported upon the portable skids or runners 34 and 35. Since the disk 28, the hub 27 and the sprocket 25 are rigidly connected, itwill be apparent that these may rotate on the shaft 29. without rotating the shaft and since the sand reel 36 is keyed to the shaft, the sand reel will be rotated only when the shaft rotates.

Interposed between the ends of the sand reel and the disk 28 is a drum 37, keyed to the shaft 29 and provided with two circumferential clutch faces 38 and 39, divided by an annular partition 40 (s Fig. 5). About the clutch face 38 is a friction band 41, to one end of "which is connected 2. link 42 fastened to one arm of an elbow lever 43, pivoted at 44 to a plate 45, the plate being ad'usted' for wear by the hinged take up it 46, fastened to another plate 47 on the band. The other arm of the elbow lever between the ends of the band is fastened to a link 46, connected to the upper end of the lever 47 pivoted at 48 to the bracket 49 rigid with the disk 28. The lower end of the lever 47 is bifurcated to form a yokeshaped end 50, engaging the ends of thefingers or bars 51 and 52 carried by the head 53 on the sleeve 54, loosely mounted on the shaft 29- The fingers or bars 51 and 52 project through the sprocket 25 and they have longitudinal movement through openings therein.

When the sleeve 54 is shifted away from the disk 28, the lower end of the lever 47' will be shifted away from the disk 28 and the upper end of the lever 47 will move toward the disk 28, shifting the link 46 in the same direction to swing the arm of the elbow lever to which it is connected toward the sand reel. The other arm of the elbow lever will impart av longitudinal movement to the link 46 to open the band or expand it. Therefore, the sleeve 54, the sprocket, the hub 27,, the disk and the clutch band 41 may rotate about the axis of the shaft 29 without imparting a rotative movement to the drum 37. hen the sleeve 54 is shifted in an opposite direction, however, the band 41 will be contracted about the clutch face 38 so that the drum 37 will rotate and since it is keyed to shaft 29, the shaft 29 will rotate, rotating the sand reel 36 which is also keyed to the shaft 29.

e have provided mechanism for shifting the collar or sleeve 54 and it consists of an elbow lever 55, pivoted in the bracket 56 bridging the space between the skids 34 and 35, as clearly seen in Figs. 3 and 7. One arm of the el ow lever is provided with a yoke 57, which engages a -groove 58 in the collar 54. The other end of the elbow lever is connected to an actuating rod 59, which may have longitudinal movement imparted to it by an appropriate means so as to swing the lever 57 about its pivot point 60. The rod 59 is also connected to one end ofa rocking lever 61, pivoted at 62, the end 63 of the lever 61 being connected to a link rod 64 which engages the pivotal point $5 of) the toggle levers 66 and 67 (see ig. 4 i

The toggle lever 67 is pivoted'to the base 68 of a bracket having an upstanding portion 69 to which an elbow lever 70 is ivoted, one arm of the elbow lever being fastened to the upper end of the toggle 66. Therefore, when the rod 64 is moved longitudinally. the toggle levers will rock the elbow lever '70. The upper end of the elbow lever is pivotally fastened to a link bolt 71 connected to the end 72 of a brake band 73 mounted about the clutch face 39. The other end of the brake band 73 is connected to the lever 70 by a link bolt 73, as will be clearly seen by reference to Fig. 2.

The levers 55 and 61 are, so connected to the rod 59 and bear such co-operating relation that when the rod 59 is shifted in one direction to cause the collar or sleeve 54 to move in a direction to contract the clutch band 4l,the lever 61 will beetfective in cansing the brake band 73 to expand and when the collar 54 is shifted in an opposite direction so as to release the drum 37, the brake band will contract about itsface 39. So itwillbe seen that the bands 41 and 73 alternately expand and contract. The reason for this it that when the bailer is to be released into th well, th driving connection must not be functioning. The shaft 29 then can have a free turning movement retarded only by the brake band 73, which will be under the control of the rod 59. Therefore, the operator can control the speed of rotation of the sand reel 36 and consequently the speed of descent of the bailer, it being understood that the drivingaction through the sprocket 16, the sprocket chain and the sprocket 25 is such asto cause a cable winding motion to be imparted to the sand reel 36 whereas the brake band 73 is to retard the unwinding movement 'of the sand reel 36.

When the parts are assembled and the shaft 5 is turning the operator can cause the sprocket 16 to rotate by operating the clutch band 23 to cause it to bind on the drum 7. This will cause the sprocket 25 to rotate as heretofore explained. Then the operator can shift the rod 59 so that the band 41 will bind on drum 37, causing the bailer cable to wind on reel 36, it being assumed that the bailer is in the well. During the time the bailer is being raised should the bailer strike an obstruction or hang on any projection, the clutch band 41 will slip about the face 38 of the drum 37, thereby eliminating the liability of plugging the hole with the bailer or leaving the bailer in the hole.

When the bailer has been drawn to the .top of the well and it is desired to lower it again, the operator will manipulate the rod 59 to expand the band 41. This action automatically contracts the band 73 so that'the bailer can be lowered into the well but under the control of the operator who can manipulate the rod 59 so as to increase or decrease the amount of friction or resistance ofiered by the band to the face 39 of the drum 3?. When the bailer has been lowered to the bottom of the well, the rod 59 will again be shifted so as to release the brake band but throw in the clutch band 41, when the winding operation will begin again.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the sandreel mechanism built in accordance with our invention, will eliminate the difficulties encountered in sand reel constructions as heretofore practiced, and amonglthe manifold advantages of our invention may be mentioned the fact that the band wheel will not become worn by the sand reel mechanism so it gives indefinite service. Less fuel will be required to operate the engine, less strain on engine, no vibration will be communicated to the rig, and since the necessity for repairs and replacement will be reduced to a minimum, the operating expense will be materially reduced.

Attention is also directed to the fact that with the old style sand reel the reel could not be operated fast enough to keep up with small doses of water, thus necessitating short undersreaming jobs, whereas with our invention, the bailing may be carried on more rapidly so that frequently, underreaming is eliminated and by reason of the fact that there is a direct pull on the sand line at all times, perfect spooling will be insured.

The sand reel may be mounted on skids to render the same easily portable.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a standard well drilling rig. including the usual derrick having a sheave at its top. front jack post, back jack post. band wheel shaft and band wheel, of a sand reel operating mechanism comprising a driven shaft, a sand reel spool on the driven shaft, in line with the sheave, a sand line on the spool passing through the sheave so that there will be a direct pull on the lineat all times, driving connections between the band wheel shaft and the driven shaft, the driving connections including slip clutch means whereby the band wheel shaft may slip with respect to the spool.

2. In combination with a standard well drilling rig, including the usual derrick, having a sheave at its top, front jack post, back jack post, band wheel shaft and band wheel, of a sand reel operating mechanism comprising a driven shaft, a sand reel spool on the driven shaft, in line with the sheave, a sand reel line onthe spool assing through the sheave so that there will be a direct pull on the line at all times, driving connections between the band wheel shaft and the driven shaft, the driving connections being located on the band wheel shaft between the front jack post and the band wheel, the driving connections including slip clutch means whereby the band wheel-shaft may slip with respect to the spool.

3. In combination with a standard well drilling rig, including the usual derrick, having a sheave at its top, front jack post, back jack post, band wheel shaft and band wheel, of a sand reel operating mechanism comprising a driven shaft, a sand reel spool on the driven shaft, in line with the sheave, a sand reel line on the spool passing through the sheave so that there will be a direct pull on the spool, a sprocket loose on the band wheel shaft, a sprocket looseon the driven shaft, a chain connecting the sprockets, clutches for connecting the sprockets to the respective shafts, at least one of said clutches being of the friction type whereby the band wheelshaft may slip with respect to the driven shaft, and means for controlling the frictional engagement of the slip clutch.

i. In combination with a standard well drilling rig, including the usual derrick, having a sheave at its top, front jack post, back jack post, band wheel shaft and band wheel, of a sand reel operating mechanism comprising a driven shaft, a sand reel spool on the driven shaft, in line with the sheave, a sand reel line on the spool passing through the sheave so that there will be a direct pull on the spool, a sprocket loose on the band wheel shaft. a sprocket ldose on the driven shaft, a chain connecting the sprockets, clutches for connecting the sprockets to the respective shafts, both of said clutches being of the friction type whereby the band wheel shaft may slip with respect to the driven shaft, and means for controlling the frictional engagement of the slip clutch.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

RICHARD lV. SAGE. HARRY R. BOUGHNER. 

